LING 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: American Sign Language, Arbitrariness, Mirror Neuron

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LING 100
• Professor: Clifford Burgess

Document Summary

Theories of language origin: the bow-wow theory based on onomatopoeia (word formed by imitation of sound) Wan-wan (japanese dog) vs. ow-ow (tagalong dog: the pooh-pooh theory language comes from sounds related to universal human emotions, the ding-dong theory sound symbolism. Human oral cavity can cause us to choke to death, but ideal for speech. Bipedalism (walking upright), brain growth, and hearing changes all arose at the same time as changes in our oral cavity. Gesture evidence order cognitive functions: same part of the brain used in oral language is used in sign language. Before the word by gary marcus: precursors of language may include systems for planning or sequencing, categorization, and representation of space and time. Memory may be at the bottom of this. Mirror neurons: crucial to imitation, may provide neural missing link between movement and speech control, problem: monkeys have mirror neurons but can"t speak or imitate.